The American Breed was an American rock band from Chicago in the 1960s. The band was originally called Gary & The Knight Lites before adopting the name The American Breed in 1967. The band had a number of charting songs in 1967–68, the best-known of which was "

Bend Me, Shape Me "Bend Me, Shape Me" is a song written by Scott English and Larry Weiss. It was first recorded by The Outsiders as a track on their album '' In'' in 1966. The best-known version of the song is the 1967 single released by The American Breed that ...

". The band broke up in 1970, and members went on to form

Rufus Rufus is a masculine given name, a surname, an Ancient Roman cognomen and a nickname (from Latin ''rufus'', "red"). Notable people with the name include: Given name Politicians * Rufus Ada George (born 1940), Nigerian politician * Rufus Al ...

after the split.

History

The American Breed originated as a group formed in 1961 by Gary Loizzo in

Cicero, Illinois Cicero (originally known as Hawthorne) is a suburb of Chicago and an Incorporated town#Illinois, incorporated town in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was ...

, United States, called Gary & The Knight Lites. Gary & The Knight Lites was influenced by

The Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) and Phillip "Phil" Everly (January 19, 1939 ...

and rhythm & blues songs, and they were joined in their first recording session by Charles "Chuck" Colbert whose father owned the recording studio. Songs they recorded included "I'm Glad She's Mine", and "Will You Go Steady". Other releases included "I Don't Need Your Help" and "I Can't Love You Anymore", also they also recorded "One, Two, Boogaloo" as The Light Nites. They recorded until 1966 before becoming The American Breed. The members of the group included Gary Loizzo (vocals and guitar), Charles "Chuck" Colbert, Jr. (bass guitar and vocals), Al Ciner (guitar and vocals), and Jim Michalak (drums). On January 20, 1967, a freak snow storm that dumped twenty inches on Chicago changed the fate of Gary & The Knight Lites when

Kenny Myers Kenny Myers was an executive at Mercury Records during the 1960s. He later became general manager for a subsidiary of Dot Records. He also ran his own record label, Amaret Records. He left the music industry in the mid-1970s for the Regensteiner ...

, former Senior Vice President of

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

, found himself stranded and met with Producer Bill Traut in his studio at Universal Recording. After Traut played Meyers some of the band's tapes, Meyers was impressed enough to sign them to his new record label, Acta (a subsidiary of

Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved ...

, itself owned by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, whose record holdings later evolved into the Famous Music Group) and suggested they change their name. "They told us Gary and the Knight Lites sounded a little dated", Loizzo told

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

in 1994. "So we put a bunch of names in a hat and pulled out American Breed". The band's first single was "Ï Don't Think You Know Me", written by

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

and

Gerry Goffin Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the List of Billboard number-one ...

. The American Breed enjoyed its greatest success in 1967 and 1968, when five of their singles reached the charts. The first to chart was "Step Out of Your Mind", which reached No. 24 in ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in July 1967. The success allowed the group, originally signed for singles, to make albums and quit their daytime gigs to pursue music full-time. The band's biggest success was "

", which reached No. 5 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1968. The song, written by

Scott English Sheldon David "Scott" English (January 10, 1937 – November 16, 2018) was an American songwriter, arranger and record producer. He is best known as the co-writer of "Brandy" which he wrote with Richard Kerr. This song became a No. 1 hit fo ...

and

Larry Weiss Laurence D. "Larry" Weiss (born March 25, 1941) is an American songwriter and musician. He wrote "Rhinestone Cowboy", a US no.1 hit for Glen Campbell in 1975; and co-wrote "Bend Me, Shape Me", "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and several other international ...

, had previously been recorded by an

all-female band An all-female band is a musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed. While ...

known as the Models and had been a hit on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

for the British group Amen Corner. It had also been recorded by The Outsiders after they had reached the top ten with "Time Won't Let Me" in 1966. Contributing to the success of the American Breed's version of "Bend Me, Shape Me" was the arrangement of the song by the band's record producer,

Bill Traut William Raymond Traut (March 20, 1929 – June 5, 2014) was an American jazz musician, rock music producer, manager and record label executive. He co-founded the Dunwich and Wooden Nickel record labels, and produced The Shadows of Knight, The Am ...

, who added horns among other changes. The group also appeared on the 16 December 1967 episode of the television show ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pro ...

'', along with

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

. The song sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. The song also peaked at No. 24 in the

, and No. 9 in the German charts. Other hit songs included "Green Light". The band also found themselves in high demand in the lucrative radio jingles market, recording commercials for

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

, the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, and

Bell Telephone The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over one hundre ...

, among others. Their television commercial for

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

("Fly the American Way") was also a big success in the top twenty TV markets and their songs were also featured on the soundtrack to the films '' No Way to Treat a Lady'' (1968) and ''

The Brain A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ i ...

'' (1969). In 1968, the band appeared three times on ''

'' and later that same year, Kevin Murphy joined as keyboardist and the band briefly altered the name to "THE American BREED" before shortening to "The Breed". Their next single, "Keep the Faith", failed to make the charts and singer

Paulette McWilliams Paulette McWilliams is an American singer and songwriter. She began her career singing with the bands The American Breed and Rufus, and has appeared as a backing vocalist on recordings and on tour for numerous artists. She worked with Marvin Ga ...

was added in 1969 in a move towards a more R&B funk sound on their next single "Hunky Funky", which "bubbled under" at No. 107. But the band was for all intents and purposes finished by then, though Loizzo briefly tried to keep the name afloat in 1970 with one last single, "Can't Make it Without You", which went nowhere. Loizzo went on to open his own recording studio, "Pumpkin", where he worked on producing commercials and other groups, eventually receiving a Grammy nomination for his work with Styx. Colbert, Graziano, McWilliams, and Murphy (after a brief stint in the military) regrouped as "Smoke" and then "Äsk Rufus" (the name soon abbreviated to

). McWilliams was later replaced by

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...

and the band later scored their first Top 10 hit under the Rufus name with "Tell Me Something Good" in 1974. The four members of "The American Breed" (Ciner, Loizzo, Colbert, and Graziano) briefly reunited in 1986 and recorded the album ''Once Again'', featuring a new version of "Bend Me, Shape Me". A compilation album, ''Bend Me, Shape Me: The Best of the American Breed'', was released in 1994. "Bend Me, Shape Me" continues to receive airplay on oldies radio stations. Since that first regrouping in 1986, the band has continued to make periodic reunion appearances at shows and fairs, mostly in and around their native Chicago. Their lead singer, Gary Loizzo, died of pancreatic cancer on January 16, 2016, aged 70.

Personnel

* Gary Loizzo – vocals, guitar (August 16, 1945 – January 16, 2016) *

Al Ciner Alan Ciner (born May 14, 1947) is an American guitarist best known for playing guitar for The American Breed from 1966 to 1969. Career He was also the guitarist for Gary & the Knight Lites. He briefly played for Rufus (band), Rufus and is hear ...

– guitar, vocals (born May 14, 1947, Chicago) *Charles "Chuck" Colbert – bass, vocals (born August 30, 1939, Chicago) *Jim Michalak – drums (October 29, 1941 – December 21, 2017) *Lee Graziano – drums, trumpet, vocals (born November 9, 1943, Chicago) * Kevin Murphy - keyboards

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

The Official "The American Breed" website
ot found 2018.01.25 {{DEFAULTSORT:American Breed, The Musical groups established in 1966 Musical groups disestablished in 1969 Rock music groups from Illinois Musical groups from Chicago Dot Records artists 1966 establishments in Illinois